For the first time in the company’s history, Ring of Honor is without an ROH World Champion. The final title holder was Jay Briscoe, who was stripped of the World championship on July 3rd due to contractual issues. ROH Commissioner Nigel McGuinness made the announcement on Ring of Honor’s YouTube channel, as well as the announcement of a 16-man tournament to crown a new Ring of Honor World champion.

Originally it was believed that Michael Elgin, the no. 1 contender, would be given the title. But instead, Elgin insisted that the ROH World title needed to be earned and agreed to partake in the tournament. Since Ring of Honor is now without a World champion, McGuinness stated that more emphasis would be placed on the World Tag Team championships.

Around this time last year, interestingly enough, the ROH World Tag Team championships were vacated due to a contract dispute with Kenny King, who appeared on a live broadcast of TNA’s IMPACT Wrestling. Ring of Honor’s constant issues with contracts with its talents lead to its greatest threat when Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs won the vacant titles–the team known as S.C.U.M. (Suffering, Chaos, Ugliness, and Mayhem).

Lead by “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen, the man whose had the most issues with contracts, and, at the time, the reigning ROH World champion, S.C.U.M. terrorized the ROH Company with the agenda to destroy it as a whole. S.C.U.M. grew in size, as do most wrestling stables with a common agenda, adding Rhino to the fold.

However, Kevin Steen was ousted from S.C.U.M. after losing the World title to Jay and was replaced by new S.C.U.M. members Cliff Compton, Jimmy Rave, Rhett Titus, and centerpiece Matt Hardy. Cornio became the new leader and dangerously forced Ring of Honor to its extinction.

That was until Corino’s hubris got the better of him, and issued a challenge to Ring of Honor: S.C.U.M. vs Team ROH in a Steel Cage Warfare match. If ROH loses, they must surrender all control over to Steve Corino; but if S.C.U.M. loses, they must disband forever.

Kevin Steen, who has never been a pro-ROH guy especially due to the shady business of former Commissioner Jim Cornette, demanded from McGuinness to be placed on Team ROH. After weeks of matches against members of S.C.U.M., Kevin Steen earned his spot on Team ROH, and eventually earned the winning pinfall that disbanded S.C.U.M. forever.

Kevin Kelly, the lead commentator, shouted throughout the broadcast that Honor Lived, but it seems like Ring of Honor still has a long road of restoration ahead of them. In two weeks, the tournament will commence to crown a new ROH World champion; but in the meantime we still have the ROH World Tag Team championships.

The Ring of Honor episode following Steel Cage Warfare, the defending ROH World Tag Team champions reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) lost the titles to the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov).

Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards, two-former ROH World champions, chose not to enlist in the ROH World championship tournament because they wanted to focus and reclaim the ROH World Tag Team championships. So down the line, if not soon, expect The American Wolves vs Forever Hooligans for the titles.

Answer the Questions: Does Honor Live in Ring of Honor? Thoughts of Jay Briscoe being stripped of the ROH World championship?

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For the past four weeks, it seems TNA’s movement to rebuild the X-Division could be for real. This Sunday, four men will vie for a TNA contract. Two of them are former X-Division wrestlers, and the other two are looking to make a break in the business. All four men have earned their way through 3-Way qualifiers to earn the right to wrestle at Destination X, but who will walk out with the contract?

As of right now, Low Ki, according to an on-line poll conducted on Impact Wrestling’s facebook page, is the odds on favorite to win the TNA contract with 2,271 votes. It wasn’t too long ago when Low Ki was competing on WWE’s NXT Season 2, working under the ring name Kaval, for a WWE contract. Kaval was voted to the number 1 spot on the weekly polls week after week by the WWE Pros and WWE Universe before winning the WWE contract.

But after being released by WWE because Creative had nothing for him, why does Low Ki want to return to TNA?

As mentioned on a past edition of Dave Lagana’sFormerly Creative podcast, Low Ki left TNA the first time in 2004 because he wanted to gain experience in Japan. Then when he returned in 2006, Low Ki noticed that the same guys who were in charge were the same guys in charge when WCW went under. Soon after the X-Division started being featured less and less on TV to make room for the much older WCW wrestlers, who couldn’t perform up to the same level as the younger X-Division guys. Then TNA starting giving Low Ki a hard time for wanting rights to the Low Ki name, and to sign a contract where they would also control his bookings. Enough was enough, so Low Ki left TNA in 2008.

On June 27, 2011, Low Ki returned, defeating fellow former X-Division wrestlers Jimmy Yang and Matt Bentley to advance to the four-way match at Destination X. In a mixed video package featuring the three combatants, the former 2-time X-Division champion stated that the reason he came back is to prove to the world that pro wrestling still matters.

Austin Aries, a former X-Division rival of Low Ki’s, will also be competing this Sunday. Aries was the first of the four finalist to advance to Destination X, having defeated fellow former X-Division wrestlers Jimmy Rave and Kid Kash on June 13, 2011. Now, after four years wrestling for Ring of Honor Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve Wrestling, and NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, including an unprecedented second reign as the ROH World Champion, Aries is long overdue to wrestle on a national platform.

Shiima Xion, who is now working under the ring name Zema Ion, defeated Dakota Darsow and Federico Palacios to advance in the tournament. Shiima garnered moderate success wrestling for International Wrestling Cartel, which included battles against future TNA stars Homicide, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, and Nigel McGuinness. He also gained experience in Japan wrestling in Sanshiro Takagi’s Dramatic Dream Team promotion. Shiima is an unknown to the Impact Wrestling audience, but can this Sunday prove to be a name recognition night?

The final participant to join Sunday’s 4-Way match is Jack Evans. Aside from a short appearance as part of TNA’s Team Canada (he’s American), Evans has yet been given the opportunity to wrestle on a national stage. With breakdancing, a large arsenal of corkscrew variations, and a jaw-dropping 630° senton, Evans certainly possesses the high flying excitement that fans have come to expect from the X-Division. But with Austin Aries in the mix, how will Evans fair against his former Generation Next stable mate?

With TNA currently having a working relationship with Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), it’s safe to speculate that Jeff Jarrett, the company’s current World Champion, personally granted Jack Evans, the promotion’s current World Cruiserweight champion and World Tag Team champion, this opportunity.

Evans’s match this past Thursday, defeating Jesse Sorenson and Tony Nees, captured the interests from current WWE Superstars Dolph Ziggler, Tyson Kidd, and Gail Kim. Ziggler tweeted the following, “Cool ultimate x qualifier match on impact tonight! Evans does some pretty sick stuff! #seewrestlingcanbefun.” If Evans happens to not win this Sunday, could we see him on WWE performing against the likes of Evan Bourne, Rey Mysterio Jr, and Sin Cara?

When it comes to the belief that Wrestling (still) Matters, men like Low-Ki, Austin Aries, Shiima Xion, and Jack Evans could indeed elevate TNA to the next stage in cementing its core product. It all depends on who wins this Sunday, and if the TNA Powers believe in the X-Division.

With a new Ring of Honor Wrestling program set to air on September 24, 2011 on Sinclair stations, we take a brief look back at Ring of Honor on HDNet. Volume 2 of Ring of Honor Wrestling is headlined by the third match between Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, who was still trying to position himself as the top guy in the company. This volume also includes the debut of KENTA as he takes on Roderick Strong, and competes in a 6-man tag team match alongside the team of El Generico and Kevin Steen against The American Wolves and Chris Hero. Jerry Lynn defends the ROH World Title against Chris Hero, The American Wolves defend the ROH World Tag Team Titles against Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, plus much more.

With two hours and thirty-five minutes of intense professional wrestling action, plus twenty-five minutes of bonus matches this is a can’t miss DVD. Not even WrestleMania XXVII, with four-hours of air time, was able to match the length of in-ring action as this Volume packs onto one disc.

Much like any Ring of Honor DVD, Bryan Danielson: Rise to Glory focuses strictly on matches, and features no form of documentaries or interviews. The one-disc collection chronicles the career of Bryan Danielson throughout six matches in a span of four years.

In 2005, Bryan Danielson entered in one of the most prominent rivalries within the early years of the company against Homicide. The first match on the DVD, however, is not a match against Homicide but against Brian Kendrick (Spanky) in the opening round of the Best of the American Super Juniors – 4/24/05. Homicide remained on his quest for the ROH Title while The American Dragon tried his luck in the Super Jrs. tournament. Though Spanky was indeed faster than The American Dragon, Danielson was a lot smarter and more resilient as he was able to evade a Tornado DDT attempt and kick out of Slice Bread #2. Bryan Danielson advanced in the tournament by pinning Kendrick with the Regal Plex, a move adopted from his trainer William Regal.

Later in the year, Bryan Danielson would defeat James Gibson (Jamie Noble) for the ROH World Title at Glory By Honor IV – 9/17/05. The Ring of Honor World Title had eluded Bryan Danielson close to four years and finally culminated in one of the best matches of the year. The match is incredible, and the speech that American Dragon gives after winning allows fans to understand in retrospect why he went on to reign as ROH World Champion for fifteen months and set a record for successful title defenses. Throughout the course of his ROH Title reign, Bryan Danielson takes on a heel-persona, while still remaining a favorite among ROH fans.

In a feud that would eventually end his ROH career, Bryan Danielson took on the Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness (Desmond Wolfe) in a Unification Match at Unified – 8/12/06. The match would unify the ROH World and Pure Titles to determine the real champion. Bryan Danielson had been known as The Best Wrestler in the World, while Nigel McGuinness was recognized as the Best Pure Wrestler. With the setting being in the Pure Champion’s home country of Liverpool, England, the match was contested under Pure Title rules. The two most notable rules were: Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal. In addition, unlike other belts, during Pure Title rules, a belt can change hands on a count-out or a disqualification. This match marked the final night that the Pure Championship would be defended as a result of Bryan Danielson knocking McGuinness out cold with repeated elbow strikes to the side of the head. Moreover, it established Bryan Danielson as the best champion amongst the two.

While Bruno Sammartino made a name for himself in Madison Square Garden, Bryan Danielson created his own legacy at ROH’s first event in the Manhattan Center, in New York City, at Glory By Honor V Night 2 by successfully defending the ROH World Title against Kenta, a guest challenger from Pro Wrestling Noah – 9/16/06. Sadly, the DVD does not have American Dragon’s speech to the fans at the start of the event about making his own legacy, nor the encounter with both Kenta and Bruno Sammartino prior to his match.

At Final Battle 2006, Danielson’s fifteen month reign came to an end at the hands of Homicide (not mentioned on the DVD). He would later return to ROH World Title contention as a fan favorite against Takeshi Morishima at Manhattan Mayhem II in a losing effort – 8/25/07. Danielson suffered a detached retina during the match. Fans chanted that he was still the Best Wrestler in the World, in which Dragon stated that the Best in the World was the one holding the ROH World Title, which at the time was Takeshi Morishma.

The final match on the DVD is possibly the most important as Bryan Danielson took on Tyler Black at Breakout – 1/25/08. Tyler Black, who became ROH Champion on February 13, 2010 at ROH’s 8th Anniversary Show, was a rule breaker in 2008. At the start of the match, Dragon extended his hand as it is customary in ROH’s Code of Honor, and Tyler greeted the hand with a swift kick. Black showed little respect towards Danielson with a series of kicks and slaps to the face. Though a lot of the arrogance displayed by Tyler Black mirrored Danielson during his ROH Title reign, he had always maintained the Code of Honor. Tyler Black obviously had the potential to lead the company some day, but Bryan Danielson basically had to kick his head in to get the message across.

ROH’s Bryan Danielson: Rise to Glory DVD is a phenomenal 6-match set because Bryan Danielson ups his intensity and his technical precision in every match. Yet, the DVD could have done better with some form of documentary or interview, and possibly extenting the collection to 2-or-more discs.